Do you know or can you guess the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
10 thoughts on “Language Quiz”
Arabic, but I don’t know which dialect.
I can’t guess the language, but it definitely sounds like a Malayic language (i.e. closely related to, but not a variety of Malay) and my first guess is that it’s spoken in southern or Middle Sumatra, otherwise possibly in Borneo.
I must agree with Chris. I thought heard the word “nak nak” (just guessing at the spelling) which I take to be reduplication which I think is found in many of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. I also THOUGHT I heard a form of the word “Allah” and with Indonesia being so very Islamic maybe it is something from that area?
I agree with Chris and Hank. The least I can say is Austronesian, possibly Philippine. That doesn’t rule out the word “Allah” heard by Hank. Perhaps a language from the southern Philippines and/or East Malaysia, such as Sug (Tausug)?
Revising my guess on repeated listening, I think Emanuel is probably on the right track. I think I probably hear a Philippine-style linker “ni” as well as what sounds like the “taga-“ prefix (‘from’) also found in Tagalog and related Central Philippine languages. But given all the vocabulary that also sounds Malay-like (which led me to my original guess of a Malayic language), I think this is a language that borrowed significantly from Malay, and so most likely a language of the southern Philippines.
Others have gone into greater detail, but I’m just going to post my original thought, which was “a language whose pronunciation has been influenced by Arabic, but is not in the Arabic family”.
I think it’s Bajaw.
Yes, Bajaw, The Prodigal Son. Posting it as a new language does help a lot! 🙂
The language is indeed Bajaw (Bajo), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
When I checked out the new language of Bajau on Omniglot and watched the first video, I recognised that as the language in the quiz. So I went to the quiz page but Hank’s comment was already there … Well done, Hank! Did you find out the way I did or were you guessing?
Arabic, but I don’t know which dialect.
I can’t guess the language, but it definitely sounds like a Malayic language (i.e. closely related to, but not a variety of Malay) and my first guess is that it’s spoken in southern or Middle Sumatra, otherwise possibly in Borneo.
I must agree with Chris. I thought heard the word “nak nak” (just guessing at the spelling) which I take to be reduplication which I think is found in many of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. I also THOUGHT I heard a form of the word “Allah” and with Indonesia being so very Islamic maybe it is something from that area?
I agree with Chris and Hank. The least I can say is Austronesian, possibly Philippine. That doesn’t rule out the word “Allah” heard by Hank. Perhaps a language from the southern Philippines and/or East Malaysia, such as Sug (Tausug)?
Revising my guess on repeated listening, I think Emanuel is probably on the right track. I think I probably hear a Philippine-style linker “ni” as well as what sounds like the “taga-“ prefix (‘from’) also found in Tagalog and related Central Philippine languages. But given all the vocabulary that also sounds Malay-like (which led me to my original guess of a Malayic language), I think this is a language that borrowed significantly from Malay, and so most likely a language of the southern Philippines.
Others have gone into greater detail, but I’m just going to post my original thought, which was “a language whose pronunciation has been influenced by Arabic, but is not in the Arabic family”.
I think it’s Bajaw.
Yes, Bajaw, The Prodigal Son. Posting it as a new language does help a lot! 🙂
The language is indeed Bajaw (Bajo), a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The recording comes from YouTube
When I checked out the new language of Bajau on Omniglot and watched the first video, I recognised that as the language in the quiz. So I went to the quiz page but Hank’s comment was already there … Well done, Hank! Did you find out the way I did or were you guessing?